Grant Morrison Announces Arkham Asylum Sequel

Time to go back to the asylum.

By Blair Marnell

Nearly 30 years ago, writer Grant Morrison and artist Dave McKean united for Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, which became one of the seminal Batman stories of the ‘80s. On the first day of Comic-Con International, Morrison dropped by to deliver a bombshell announcement: he is working on Arkham Asylum 2 with Batman Incorporated artist Chris Burnham.

Morrison revealed the project when he joined Dan DiDio and Jim Lee’s "DC Publishers" panel midway through its run time. Morrison told the audience that when he and Mark Millar used to be friends, they would joke about how Arkham Asylum 2 would be the sign that Morrison’s career had jumped the shark. Now, Morrison is embracing the shark jump, and setting the new tale far in the future. The sequel will feature an adult Damian Wayne as Batman, the same alternate future version Morrison first introduced in 2007's Batman #666. He also mentioned that the will be 120 pages in length.

The older Damian as seen in Batman #666. Art by Andy Kubert. (DC Comics)

While Morrison was there, he also touched upon his Wonder Woman: Earth One graphic novels, which he still sees as a trilogy. Morrison noted that his take on Wonder Woman draws on William Moulton Marston’s original tales, including the themes of submission and authority. Morrison showed preview pages from Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 2, which featured Paula von Gunther leading a Nazi invasion of Paradise Island. The next page showed that Queen Hippolyta was not impressed, and he indicated that the Amazons will resolve the invasion without violence.

Also at the panel, DiDio and Lee made a soft announcement of a new mature readers line at DC, with All-Star Superman as a template. They teased a European-style presentation (including larger format printing) with top talent who would tell complete stories with beginnings, middles and ends. DiDio says that they realize that one size does not fit all when it comes to reaching new comic fans. He categorized 2018 as a transformative year for DC, as the company strives to reach new readers and save the industry from dying. Both Lee and Didio spoke passionately about the Dark Matter spinoff books, which feature top talent, and will not be using variant covers as crutches.

Lee was also asked about the long-simmering Milestone revival. He said that talks are continuing with Denys Cowan and Reggie Hudlin, and mentioned that there would be a mixture of new and old creations on Earth M (the new home for Milestone's heroes in the DC multiverse). He said that it would have some aspects of the classic Dakota universe, but they want it to be fully realized with projects completed before they make a formal announcement.

You can follow Blair Marnell on Twitter @BlairMarnell.

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